Why did this king snake wiggle around so spastically? Is this atypical
behavior or is it perfectly normal? According to a number of sources king snakes
exhibit a variety of defensive behaviors when they feel threatened. Among
these are wiggling their tails in leaves in order to sound like a rattlesnake,
striking or biting, rolling up into a ball, exuding a foul odor, and other
similar behaviors. So, the spastic wiggling is within the normal range of
king snake behavior although it does look a little unusual. Of course,
spastically wiggling around on the ground is not very intimidating to a
human, but perhaps it might scare off another animal. Some potentially
dangerous animals which king snakes might encounter in the northern Mojave
include coyotes, donkeys, foxes, bobcats, various birds of prey,
and possibly even mountain lions. It doesn't seem highly probable that
spastically wiggling is likely to be an effective defense mechanism, but you
never know!